CANISTERS of medical marijuana and a price list for the marijuana products is seen inside Highland Health medical dispensary and wellness center in Denver, Colo.

BLOOMBERG NEWS FILE PHOTO MATTHEW STAVER

Posted:
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 4:52 pm

By Patrick Anderson PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee has asked the federal government to decriminalize marijuana for medical use nationwide, he announced Wednesday.

In a petition filed along with Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, Chafee asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug, which has no medical use and cannot be prescribed for any reason, to a Schedule 2 drug which could be prescribed for medical use with controls, Chafee said in a statement.

“Americans’ attitudes toward medically prescribed marijuana are changing, and medical organizations throughout the country – including the Rhode Island Medical Society and the American Medical Association – have come to recognize the potential benefits of marijuana for medical use,” Chafee said in the statement. “Patients across Rhode Island and across the United States, many of whom are in tremendous pain, stand to experience some relief. Gov. Gregoire and I are taking this step to urge the federal government to consider allowing the safe, reliable regulated use of marijuana for patients who are suffering.”

Chafee’s petition comes after he blocked in September the licensing of medical marijuana compassion centers, which had been authorized by the General Assembly, because the federal government said they broke U.S. law and threatened to prosecute them.

Chafee’s petition includes a “substantive science-based report” on medical marijuana use that includes recommendations on how it can be distributed in a controlled and clinically effective manner.

Comments

Federal researchers implanted several types of cancer, including leukemia and lung cancers, in mice, then treated them with cannabinoids (unique, active components found in marijuana). THC and other cannabinoids shrank tumors and increased the mice's lifespans. Munson, AE et al. Antineoplastic Activity of Cannabinoids. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Sept. 1975. p. 597-602.

OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER, (PART 2):

In a 1994 study the government tried to suppress, federal researchers gave mice and rats massive doses of THC, looking for cancers or other signs of toxicity. The rodents given THC lived longer and had fewer cancers, "in a dose-dependent manner" (i.e. the more THC they got, the fewer tumors). NTP Technical Report On The Toxicology And Carcinogenesis Studies Of 1-Trans- Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, CAS No. 1972-08-3, In F344/N Rats And B6C3F Mice, Gavage Studies. See also, "Medical Marijuana: Unpublished Federal Study Found THC-Treated Rats Lived Longer, Had Less Cancer," AIDS Treatment News no. 263, Jan. 17, 1997.

OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 3):

Researchers at the Kaiser-Permanente HMO, funded by NIDA, followed 65,000 patients for nearly a decade, comparing cancer rates among non-smokers, tobacco smokers, and marijuana smokers. Tobacco smokers had massively higher rates of lung cancer and other cancers. Marijuana smokers who didn't also use tobacco had no increase in risk of tobacco-related cancers or of cancer risk overall. In fact their rates of lung and most other cancers were slightly lower than non-smokers, though the difference did not reach statistical significance. Sidney, S. et al. Marijuana Use and Cancer Incidence (California, United States). Cancer Causes and Control. Vol. 8. Sept. 1997, p. 722-728.

OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 4):

Donald Tashkin, a UCLA researcher whose work is funded by NIDA, did a case-control study comparing 1,200 patients with lung, head and neck cancers to a matched group with no cancer. Even the heaviest marijuana smokers had no increased risk of cancer, and had somewhat lower cancer risk than non-smokers (tobacco smokers had a 20-fold increased Lung Cancer risk). Tashkin D. Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer: Results of a Case-Control Study. American Thoracic Society International Conference. May 23, 2006.

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